Virtual World: Rebellion Reedited
by YamiUmiRyu
Summary: COMATOSE FIC
1. Digitalization Flawed

**Virtual World: Rebellion (total re-edit) **

Author's Note: I would just like to make one thing clear, and that is that all OCs are the works of other authors know through and But this is not an interactive story, this is a simulation of Dungeons & Dragons where the Dungeon Master, that's the author typing this now, decides what goes down and how. I thank you for taking the time to read this and hope you enjoy the humor and humility of what the OCs are in for.

**Chapter 1 - Digitalization Flawed**

Everything went black.

Previously the computer monitors where two friends have been instant messaging each other were becoming cluttered with pop-ups, specifically about Kaiba Corp. Both became rather furious because they thought their comps were acting up...rage ended when they found out they were both getting it at the exact same time.

One of them concerned herself, going up and down the computer wiring to see any weak connections and even going to the home Internet network to see if anything was amiss with that. She had accepted the position of home's technician, commonly working out the wiring on the electrical appliances.

The other fought through the pop-ups to do a reboot on her laptop in her dorm. But hitting control-alt-delete couldn't bring the laptop computer to a system restart. She dreams to follow in her idol's footsteps to as far as being his highest secretary, even if it meant breaking into his office and mummify him in duct tape after knocking out every guard, just to say hello.

By now, the instant messaging program was disconnected with promise of return. Both of them have done all they can. The college student beginning to worry about the owner of the pop-ups; the home girl returning to her computer and was about to do a manual shutdown. They blacked out without warning, and no sign to recover consciousness.

What seemed like an eternity of darkness would soon shed some light. "Ge...Mira..." a voice harshly whispered with intervals of silence fading. "Gema...Miranda... Gema! Miranda! Wake up!" The demand followed with hard kicks of an iron boot to one arm each. One rose up to her knees first, rudely awakened by the one calling, the other lying on the ground next to her twitched after she was kicked again in front of the one awake.

"Stop that!" She demanded through a fabric sass that covered her mouth and pulled it away from her face. Her teeth gritted tightly at the caller before she nudged the other awake. "Miranda? Wake up." The soft voice made Miranda relax and she got one arm under her with black scaly wings just in between her shoulder blades and spinal column.

"Gema...what happened?" Miranda asked as her consciousness slowly returned.

"I'm...not sure..." Gema answered, looking slightly startled at the wings and tail lining her friends back. She looked up to the one calling them earlier. No skin exposed anywhere; instead a white mask with two slits for eyes were connected to a decorative armor of gold from head to shoulder and draped in fine robes of green with gold embroidery and a red cape. "Who are you!" Gema demanded while they both got to their feet. Miranda standing on black talons.

The masked representative sighed under his armor; "I am Marths, YOUR commanding officer." He emphasized. "We were on our way to meet His Majesty to discuss our next move when you two collapsed." Gema and Miranda stared at him with uncertainty. Marthis turned around and began to proceed in a direction. "Follow me, you two. I shouldn't be seeing this from my two highest marshals. And His Majesty has very short patience." He said coldly. Without any much of a choice, they followed him down the hall.

Faint voices sounded familiar, one that snapped Gema into a huge smile. Miranda was more worried about Gema's weapon strapped to her back, a large, jagged flamberge with a crescent cut out near the end of the blade. One edge lined with sapphire cut to slash without a mess. Gema looked to see Miranda growing nervous, "Miranda?" she asked and felt a handle standing over her shoulder. Gema pulled it forward and stared in awe of the weapon she held for combat. On it they saw their reflections.

Gema's hair was worn down and the color almost like a piece of white-gold jewelry, and her warm blue eyes were glazed with an odd look of confusion. Her blue sash hung loose around her neck over an outfit coordinate of blue and white. White tank top and skirt over a full-body cover of blue. A streak of jagged white ran down her left leg and concluded with a pair of soft-sole shoes and pads of armor covered her knees, forearms, and shins.

Miranda was curious of her own image as well. Her short hair of brown and red streaks ruffled in a mess with two black horns jutting from behind each ear and one more pair close to her hairline. Further down, her normal eye color was replaced with fiery red irises and extensive fangs. Her dominant attire color is black; a black shirt began with a bare back to extend her wings and several pieces of obsidian armor ended at human hands with longer nails. Black, boot-cut stretch pans ended with black dragon talons replacing her feet and a black segmented tail trailed for about four feet. It was all concluded with a red stone hanging on a thin black chain.

"It...looks like you're a Red-Eyes Black Dragon..." Gema stared at Miranda's reflection.

"And you look like...a ninja that's too brightly colored. Where's the black?" Miranda gazed at Gema's reflection.

"If you two are done beautifying yourselves, His Majesty and the captain of the Imperial Guard are waiting for us." Marthis said, standing in front of a doorway. Gema and Miranda hurried towards the doorway he was at and stopped in their tracks. Gema's blue eyes glistened at the sight of her idol, waiting at a table with his cold gaze and uniform of white leather, sleeveless trench coat and black coordinating shirt and pants. Miranda watched nervously at Marthis as he approached another awaiting face, and older face. Skin a shale gray over aged skeleton with purple draping robes and a headdress to match.

"Took you three long enough." He scowled. "But as I was saying, the Resistance grows in various areas of Rondeval. I need to be assured that my best Marshals can put these peasants to rest and the Resistance out to pasture. Kaiba, you're leading the Imperial Guard forces to Maryah-Denn. Take what you need, Miranda and Gema will accompany you." Putting Kaiba in charge made Marthis question otherwise.

"But your Majesty, surely you know that Kaiba is unaware of what he is doing." Marthis advised.

"I'm aware I'm about to break that mask open like an egg and rip your tongue out." Kaiba fired back, making Marthis jump but the girls to giggle. "I know what I'm doing, until I find a way out of Gursaburo's trap, I'll play this stupid game." He took a glance to Gema and Miranda, "You two better stay out of my way."

With some though, the king spoke up again. "Marthis, you go along with them and report to me if anything goes wrong. You're all dismissed, I want you out to Maryah-Denn in one hour." With that, they all left but Marthis. Kaiba walked out through another corridor with Gema and Miranda behind him, Gema barely containing herself from exploding in excitement.

"Kaiba you're so awesome!" Gema cheered after they were far from the room they were in. Kaiba turned on a heel and scanned the two with an upheld glare.

"You two seem strong enough, the reason I'm letting you two tag along with me is because I've seen your teams of monsters." He said, they answered with the repeated question of the phrase "teams of monsters." Kaiba rolled his eyes, "apparently you two got thrown into this as well, but with how you dress, I can't tell if you're humans or part of the program. Looks like Gozaburo did succeed."

"Gozaburo?" Gema asked. Miranda answered before Kaiba did.

"Gozaburo Kaiba, he used to be the head of a military organization company. When he fell to his death from suicide, Seto Kaiba took hold of the company himself and changed it to a gaming company, mainly in the game of Duel Monsters and advances in holographic technology." Kaiba blinked for a moment.

"Saved me the breath to answer. If you knew that, then you two must be human. But it puzzles me how you ended up like that, a ninja and a dragon." He sighed. "But you've forgotten that Gozaburo succeeded. After his suicide, Gozaburo had his brain downloaded into a computer where he succeeded to digitize the world. Every electrical device that is connected to the Internet and affected anyone whom was nearby. I would imagine there'd be a few glitches because I was sent her by a virtual pod that connect the human senses." He explained.

"While we got here without any special equipment..." Gema muttered to herself. "So there would be more like us, but what determined how we got like this?"

"It could be a number of reasons. Mostly based around the system that sent us here." Miranda answered.

"That's more than likely the case." Kaiba had a moment to think for himself, "You two seem a shade higher than that Marthis. You're almost on my good side." The compliment made Gema spring again.

"So what's this about our teams of monsters?" Miranda asked while Gema daydreamed. Kaiba led them further down the hall that looked like it led outside.

"Here, we are called Marshals, we decide the war's outcome. Other than us, Mokuba, Haysheen, and Marthis are Marshals as well. We each have a trio of monsters based on compatibility." Kaiba began and stopped at a set of wide gates. Two green Cyclops monsters, Hitosume Giants, pushed the doors open, blinding the girls for a moment. Their eyes adjusted when a large dragon reflected sunlight with white scales approached Kaiba. "I have my three Blue-Eyes White Dragons of course, Ibris, Kisara, and Azreal. Gema, yours are over there." Kaiba pointed out to another trio.

All of them were female. The first an angelic figure with short ginger hair and dressed in glimmering white and gold fabrics. The other two were twins, one with a lighter skin tone with purple marking over her eyes and dressed with turquoise colors. She had long sleeved gloves and a dress to her mid-thighs with white fluff bordering. Her sister darker with green skin dye on her forehead; she had a little less coverage than her sister did with one purple glove on her right hand, and gold band wrapped on her left arm, and purple boots and dress that ended at her knees. Gema's astonishment was evident. "Gemini Elf and Guardian Angel Joan. THANK YOU KAIBA!" Gema cheered like the fangirl she was and hugged Kaiba quickly before she met her monsters.

Kaiba's anger appeared and looked to Miranda. "Believe me, I won't do that. She's a bigger fan of you than I am." Miranda tried to justify. Kaiba pointed to another group of monsters, indicating they were Miranda's. All of them were from her Amazoness Deck. An Amazoness Paladin stood in attention with her sword in the ground in front of her and eyes as serious as Kaiba's. Next was an Amazoness Swords Woman, one of the more ruthless of the Amazoness with the ability to fire back damage that could be done to the user. She had a jagged sword set over her shoulder. Finally, the Amazoness Tiger rested peacefully even though it had a scar down its left eye.

Miranda bowed, "Thank you Kaiba." She said before hovering to her team. Lastly, a child rushed up with the biggest smile. His long black hair was messier than Miranda's and had the attire of a yellow vest over a blue-marine-striped shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes. "Seto! We're almost ready to head out to Maryah-Denn." He informed, and looked to Gema and Miranda distracted by their teams.

"You two, stock up! We leave in one hour." Kaiba commanded and the girls scattered to see what they could do.


	2. Differences Between CPU and 1P

**Chapter 2 - Differences Between CPU and 1P**

Kaiba beckoned one of his dragons to lower its head and let his kid brother Mokuba climb on just in front of the dragon's shoulders. He called for another and mounted on himself; looking to Gema and Miranda. He ignored Miranda on the aid of transport since she had, and already knew how to use, her wings. "I'm assuming you'll need a lift?" He asked Gema. She was speechless when spoken to but climbed on anyway.

Marthis was already aboard a Sky Dragon, a giant four-winged, purple eagle concealing dangerous blades in its wings. "Shall we head off? The more we wait, the larger the Resistance will become." He said in a shaking matter. Kaiba returned with his cold glare, making Marthis shrink in his decorative attire.

"Kaiba?" Miranda asked for his attention while she looked about the monsters that can only levitate or walk. "What do we do about the monsters that can't run or fly fast enough?" Kaiba snapped his fingers and the levitating and earthbound monsters transformed into cards in their owners' hands. They didn't look like normal Duel Monsters gaming cards; they were more like info cards. Including the normal bio of the monster with added information. The girls were impressed of the effect while skimming the cards in their hands.

Gema was especially amazed to see that all of her monsters had special abilities. She read the ability of her Guardian Angel Joan. "_Halo Gift: Affective throughout the battle, affects all monsters on own team. All damage done to opponent monsters become HP to the attacking monster._" She read to herself, grinning widely at the fantasies unimaginable come to virtual reality.

"May we please go now? The threat of the Resistance grow by the second." Marthis panicked, even the Sky Dragon he mounted looked about frantically. The four of them replied with glares, even muttering from Gema and Miranda asking how Kaiba wound up with Marthis. Another moment and Kaiba hinted his dragon to take flight, Mokuba, Gema, and Marthis followed, Miranda brought up the rear and quickly flew into rank.

Just under the clouds' level, Kaiba led his dragons with Marthis right behind. Miranda pulled up along side Marthis, she felt a cold gaze and dodged a swipe of wing blade. Another evasion before she pulled herself up next to Gema, looking at Marthis with disgusted sights.

Marthis demanded, "Miranda, Gema, you are my soldiers and stay with rank with me! I don't care if you're on one of Kaiba's dragons!" Kaiba shot his glare over the shoulder.

"I can blast you clear out of the sky if I wanted to, Marthis. Gema and Miranda will follow my orders, do I make myself clear?" He said coldly, Marthis mumbled and fell back from the White Dragons. The rest of the trip was silent except for random questions on how Gema and Miranda got to the positions where they were.

"So this Noah kid, he had the idea first to connect all the computers around the world? Hasn't that already been done, say Internet?" Gema asked after hearing Kaiba's back-story.

Kaiba continued, "It goes farther than that, Noah wanted to connect the users across the globe-not just the computers. Gozaburo took that one step further, and transported our minds here, yours through a different method as we've clarified previously, which seems to me you two will be unstable here."

"Unstable?" Miranda repeated.

"If my theory is correct, it won't be long before your bodies are found unconscious in front of your computers and your senses will jump between the virtual world and the real world. You'll begin to hear voices of those that find you, brief visionary flashes, maybe even feel what's being done to you in the real world." He resumed, making both Gema and Miranda wince at the probable truth. "I need to find Gozaburo, he's putting everyone here he transported through the electrical currents of the Internet in high risk of more than just virtual appearances. I've no idea what the long term effects are of mind downloading and I don't plan to find those out when it means a lawsuit from every Internet user around the world." Both of them tried to take it all in while flying around a high mountain peak.

"And what about Noah?" Gema wondered.

"I suppose I owe him _some_ gratitude for trying to stop Gozaburo before he succeeded in digitizing the world. He tried to make our exit but Gozaburo succeeded, scattered the data of the Virtual World we were previously in, and here we are. And right in the middle of my Battle City Tournament…" Kaiba grimaced in hidden rage, "as if Kaiba Corp didn't take enough of a financial beating from my back-stabbing councilmen, now this." There was a pause again; the last one before the land below them dipped down to level ground. A vast plain stretched over a large part of the northern piece of Rondeval. They began to descend when a small territory made up of four villages connected by trails into a circle came into view.

"We land there, the castle Maryah-Denn lies to the east." Marthis directed them towards their right. A large castle untouched even with no watchtowers active by guards. Two towers spread out to four points each near the back of the castle and surrounded by thick blockading walls. The entire fortress built from brick, the perfect defense in what seems like the Medieval Dark Ages in a computer game.

They finished descent and dismounted their dragons in a courtyard behind the guarding walls. Marthis opened up his cards to a giant blue fiend known by Zoa, and a wicked-looking flower called Dark Plant. Mokuba released a large wooden horse, a Trojan Horse; followed by a warrior with horns sprouting from his head and a twisted sword forged from a dragon's horn, a D. Human. And finally the last monster in his trio was riding a white dragon half the size of a normal Blue-Eyes White Dragon. The rider had green flesh under pieces of turquoise armor with gold trim, a Paladin of White Dragon.

Gema seemed most impressed as she called out her monsters, "Mokuba, nice team." She complimented.

"Thanks," He replied with the same enthusiasm as Marthis tried to get everyone's undivided attention.

"Excuse me? I have the data to our first mission today." Marthis cleared his throat, "Now since all four of you are not yourselves, I've found an easy task. So you all should be able to complete this and show that you can do more than just drills."

"Keep your comments to yourself." Kaiba hissed and beckoned Marthis to get down to the mission.

"Two Marshals belonging to the Resistance are hiding out in the western village of Riz-Phonn, and they won't come out to greet us. My suggestion is we take control of one of the nearby villages: Ru-Ma-Pann to the north, or Seirauna to the south. With that, they'll do anything in their power to try and get it back." A silence befell the group that was listening. Gema was first to answer.

"Does everyone here have the same thought as I do? I don't want to act on my own if I get a disagreement from my commanding officer." She asked.

Kaiba paused for his own answer. "Marthis, thank you for volunteering first…you'll take Seirauna in the south. Gema, Miranda, please show him to the main gates." Both of them grinned. Gema raised her flamberge over her head like it weighed nothing, Miranda cracked her knuckles that soon transformed into flaming fists, and an explosive WHAM could be heard as far as the mountain range south of Maryah-Denn making the tiny Fairy Dragons scatter.

A wedged cut shot through Marthis left shoulder armor, and a charbroiled crater on his right plate. A second previous he stood proud in the regal armor, now lying on the ground seemingly unconscious. The girls took a foot each and began to drag Marthis out of the courtyard, both of them curious to know why his armor hasn't separated from his body while he was being towed over the cobblestones.

After Gema and Miranda dragged Marthis out, they turned to his monsters. Miranda hissed lowly, streams of black smoke escaping her mouth as her irises lit up blood red. The three monsters paled and ran for it outside the castle, the gates being closed and locked afterwards. Marthis just regained his consciousness and climbed to his feet, feeling a few pounds lost off his armor. He didn't seem too worried of the damage, the empire was rich enough to replace it completely. Though Marthis cursed to himself under the mask for different reasons, climbed onto Sky Dragon and flew to the village not too far away.

The rest watched from the observation decks that lined the inner parts of the blockade walls, all of them sharing the look that Marthis was pathetic, it seemed he couldn't carry his own weight of armor sitting on top of his shoulders like a football quarterback. "Gema, if Marthis is correct, once he reaches Seirauna there will be a Marshal coming out of Riz-Phonn. You will undertake Riz-Phonn once that Marshal leaves his captain wide open." Kaiba ordered while Marthis entered the village. Gema was more than eager to prove herself to Kaiba that her competence was higher than that of the pigeon that was previously sent out. "By the look of things, the Marshal sent out has a Mystic Horseman, a Kanikabuto, and a Soldier Ant. The Marshal you need to take out has a Dharma Cannon, a Ryu-Kihin Powered, and an Octoberser. I expect nothing less after you've been given Gemini Elf and Guardian Angel Joan."

A minute after Kaiba told her what to do, he gave the signal to proceed and Gema replaced the sash over her mouth and nose before she leaped over the castle wall. She landed softly from a forty-foot drop and cut through the forest the villages surrounded. Guardian Angel Joan followed over the trees while the Gemini Elves tried to keep up with Gema's stealthy speeds.

Miranda waited next to Mokuba, tail twitching in slight impatience before she dropped from the wall decks and browsed about the gallery of remaining monsters. She had small thoughts of confusion when she got a friendly vibe from the imitating Blue-Eyes White Dragons, even the opportunity to stroke Azreal's broad head.

Against the laws of physics, Gema covered ground through the forest quickly. Landing on every branch and trunk without feeling the flamberge's extreme weight of iron on her back. Even with the bouncing, Gema had thoughts running through her head, muttering even able to escape her mouth. "What's going on here?" She wondered.

One of the Gemini Elves has caught up to her with unmeasured speeds, the darker Kachua. "You mean you don't know the war being fought all over Rondeval? Even when you were hired by Marthis to fight in it?" She asked, making Gema lose her footing and grab a tree limb with her hand, dangling for a moment before dropping to the ground. The other Gemini Elf Lora and Guardian Angel Joan rested nearby. Gema shook her head, confused from the question. Kachua took a deep breath and began, "This is the Sygh-Varth Empire, where Emperor Haysheen has ascended the throne. After a year, the people of Rondeval have been pushed to the point of poverty, heavily taxed just so the Empire Hierarchy can rest in the lap of luxury."

"Recently, revolts from the people began all across the continent when their complaint of famine feel on deaf ears. The rebellions began from a band of thieves called the Black Dragon Squad." Lora finished it. "However we have no choice but to follow Emperor Haysheen's orders. We have to quell the Resistance or we become the Resistance ourselves."

"OK, I think I get it…" Gema tried to understand. "But I'll just stick to beat the crap out of the Resistance until something is done about how I get out of this virtual world." The Elves and Joan looked at Gema in confusion. She shook her head and resumed cutting through the forest with her allies right behind her. In a matter of minutes, Gema reached the other end of the forest, quickly ducking back in when she sees a few moving figures leaves the village she came to, Kachua, Lora, and Joan doing the same.

An elderly man trekked to Seirauna. Behind him were three creatures. First was a Centaur-figure, holding a long scythe over his shoulder. Behind him was a giant black ant. And third a giant crab with bull horns on top of the shell and massive green claws.

"Those are the Mystic Horseman, Soldier Ant, and Kanikabuto." Kachua whispered. Gema nodded to acknowledge it and waited until they were out of sight before proceeding into Riz-Phonn. The village is concealed behind a wall, not as secure as Maryah-Denn on the other side but enough to hold some resistance. The gates hung wide open, giving the ninja extreme suspicion; however, disappeared when seeing opportunity. They darted in and dodged sights by ducking behind crates and barrels.

Joan read the labels painted across the crates' planks. "They're Imperial supply reserves, for the soldiers that aren't Marshals." She informed.

"And the Resistance swiped them…lovely." Gema sighed sarcastically. All four of them heard a screaming like something was diving towards them. Kachua cried out in warning and everyone scattered as a flying stray spear made the barrels explode. Gema slid by a corner of a building to avoid the damaging explosion.

"Imperial dogs, I know you breached this wall. But I will fight you to the end!" A young man's voice cried out. Gema knew what he was in for and came out in full swing. She jumped off the stack of barrels with her flamberge held high over her head and slashed down, making the one to call her out jump back in fear. She held the tip just inches in front of his dark face. His attire was poor as Kachua described the poverty, he only had rags of cotton blends and a rope for a belt and no shoes.

"You have any idea who you're calling a dog?" Gema hissed coldly to imitate her idol, "I might have split your tongue off."

"You may have the upper hand in the element of surprise, but you will go no further. Dharma Cannon, Ryu-Kishin Powered, Opctoberser, come forth!" He cried, and three creatures from different parts of the alley came to his call. First was a floating red machine with a random assortment of cannons, It seemed outdated to other machines Gema had seen in her database. Next was a monster she'd seen in Kaiba's earlier array during the Duelist Kingdom tournament, a purple gargoyle hovered over him with claws ready to rip Gema apart. Last a combination of sea creatures crawled in. Octopus legs and a fish for a head, carrying a spear on the hand of a blue human torso. "You fear my group now?"

"Hardly." Gema said unfazed and beckoned her team to assemble. Guardian Angel Joan took up the middle and Lora and Kachua came to either side. "I bet I can put all three of your monsters down in two strikes." Gema scanned all three opposing monsters to see which of them was the strongest. "Rating by speed, Guardian Angel Joan has first attack. Joan, do it! Angelic Arrow!" She commanded.

Joan began with a bow of light coming to her right hand, and an arrow formed as she drew back on the string; she made her target and fired, sending Ryu-Kishin tumbling to the ground. The damage was devastation and the gargoyle fiend vanished before it could climb up off the ground.

The opponent's jaw dropped, and his skin went sheet white of the shear power. Gema got his attention again, "I'm not done, now for hit number two. Kachua, Lora! Double Gemini Radiation!" She proceeded further. The Gemini Elves hovered in the air and spheres of magic charged in their hands. Lora's blue sphere was thrust first from her hands and aimed to Dharma Cannon and Octoberser, Kachua's overhead throw followed and made contact at the same time. The explosion of magic lit up the village, far enough for Castle Maryah-Denn to see it like an aurora borealis. The remaining monsters vanished in the wake of the attack and the boy was thrown off his feet.

Gema had her flamberge sitting just lightly on her collarbone with a serious glare, but hiding the amazement of the power her monsters possessed. It came to her that there was barely a contest: Guardian Angel Joan's base attack is 2800 and the Gemini Elves' attack could double to 3800 if they were separated with 1900 attack points each. Once the attack reached an end, Gema waited for her opponent to move. He only twitched, shaking badly from the eruption of magical energies. Gema shrugged, quoting a line she favored greatly and known all too well by the men she laid to waste before. "_He had it comin'_." Quickly, the arrive guards apprehended Gema's opponent and she had permission to leave with her mon right behind her.

"Joan, Kachua, Lora, thanks for that impressive battle." Gema complimented her team.

"It was hardly a battle." Kachua hovered by her Marshal, Gema and the others couldn't help but to agree before they entered the forest and the Elves and ninja began their leaping spree through the trees. Joan flew overhead and keeping her name as Guardian Angel as she watched the three below through the dense forest. She saw Marthis just beginning to exit Seirauna and look back down.

"Marthis is leaving his assignment now. He must have not been able to beat that Marshal before the guards took hold of the village." Joan said, getting a response of laughter from the girls down below and they picked up speed to reach Maryah-Denn Castle before Marthis did. Miranda opened the gates by herself with abnormal human strength as Gema came in first, holding a proud smile under her sash, and followed by a lagging Marthis. His Sky Dragon dragged its wings across the ground, proving the exhaustion of a losing fight. Kaiba had a satisfied smirk of Gema's success, and the coldest of glares to Marthis.

Marthis tried to regain his composure in front of Kaiba. "I see. Well, Gema has certainly proven her worth." He said while his monsters dragged on and collapsed on the castle wall, even his Dark Plant ingrained itself into the ground but began to wilt anyway. "Now, the two we've captured will be executed publicly. The perfect example that the Resistance should never mess with the Imperial Guard." Marthis chuckled following his commentary. "Next we have a reports of a massive revolt in Enno." he was quickly interrupted by Kaiba.

"Spare the two Resistance Marshals, but take their monsters into Imperial custody." He commanded, making Marthis jump.

"But sir! Imperial Law clearly state that all who oppose us must be punished by death!" Marthis objected. Gema, Miranda, and Mokuba soon to watch the verbal dispute between two of the higher ranks. "It has been our law for generations of the Sygh-Varths Empire!" Marthis rambled forth.

"You execute for your pleasure, not because the law demands it. You're just a program, I'm human, and as one I'm smarter than my stepfather is to create this distraction. It's smarter to keep them alive and let them run with their tails between their legs. You can't see the full extent of fear from a disembodied head." Kaiba hissed back, his Dragons perched on the towers growled, staring Marthis like he was the next meal. "As far as I'm concerned, disobeying a commanding officer is a high military crime. Spare those two, but keep the monsters, those are direct orders."

Argued to a corner, Marthis had no choice but to follow command and give the soldiers the relayed message. "Oh, and one last thing Marthis. Gema and Miranda are free to execute for their pleasure as well." The last note made Marthis jump higher than before. He looked to the girls whom had two wide grins and an even wider grin of fangs from the Amazoness Tiger that began to prowl around him.

"Oh you will pay Kaiba…you will pay…" Marthis vowed. Miranda pointed in Marthis' direction with a stiff finger and an unbroken glare.

"Kin, sic." She commanded in a blank voice. The Amazoness Tiger, who was given the name Kin, pounced onto Marthis with all his strength and forced him to the ground. He could feel the Tiger's hot breath through the eyeholes of his mask before he heard fabric ripping apart. Marthis knew that it was his silk robes being torn.

They all watched as Kin had his way before going to the next mission. Again, Kaiba called his dragons and he, Mokuba and Gema got on while Miranda prepped herself to follow after. Once the monsters were called back to their cards, the Blue-Eyes White Dragons took off with Miranda not too far behind, all aimed to head to Enno. Marthis struggled to follow with an exhausted Sky Dragon flapping laboriously to tail the Blue-Eyes White Dragons.


	3. Kaibaman!

**Chapter 3 – Kaibaman!**

Their flight over the land boiled with turbulence once they passed the mountains; Dragon Seekers from the Resistance forces clustered the airspace of the Dragons and attacked without warning. Instantly Gema balanced herself atop her Dragon with flamberge in full swing; when the Dragon ducked from a besieging attack, Gema slashed at the attacker from below and obliterating it on sight. "Who knew the Resistance was large enough to accommodate airspace?" she commented while bringing another Seeker down. Mokuba and Kaiba dodged and attacked the Seekers on opportunity with the White Lightning, and Miranda exploded into raging dogfights and threw punches hard enough to break through the Dragon Seekers' gloating hides.

"It was rumored previously that Dragon Seekers would wear the scales of Dragons they slain throughout their lives." Marthis said while desperately trying to avoid the Seekers himself, he still had damage to his armor décor from the night previous, though no one has seen his face if he ever took the armor off. "You, Black Dragon! I demand assistance!" Miranda nailed a kick to a proceeding Dragon Seeker and shattered it like glass without getting as much as a "thank you." "Stay and protect your commanding officer!" Marthis commanded rudely.

_Sorry, next time I'll actually hit my target._ Miranda thought and going with Marthis' orders, she faked an obedient nod. "Yes sir!" She replied and darted back to Kaiba, knocking off Dragon Seekers with one hit at a time.

"Not that commanding officer!" Marthis objected before barely dodging another Seeker.

All of them kept blasting out Seekers only to have more come at them. Finally Miranda's last nerve broke. Her fingers curled in front of her and a manifest of red energy converged in her grasp, crackling into fire. Out of sheer concentration, the energy gathered to the size of a basketball. Everyone watched in amazement in the standstill as the Dragon Seekers saw the emerging threat and darted in her direction. Gema cried to try and warn her friend, "Miranda! Incoming!"

The mass of swirling fire seemed complete and Miranda bolted straight up with the red sphere of flames still in her hands, making the gather of ten Dragon Seekers below her and threw the fireball wildly, calling her attack. "Inferno Fire Blast!" She called and the sphere of flames exploded in pure fury. Raining fire struck down every Dragon Seeker and shattered in a dimming hellion, all to nothing. The Blue-Eyes White Dragons and the Sky Dragon all hovered in the skies, waiting for anymore Dragon Seekers to ambush them, and staring at Miranda in awe-some more than others.

Mokuba broke the silence first, "Miranda…did that?" He asked, still shocked from the final flame attack. Gema nodded in answer.

"Miranda's one that's really hard to temper. But when you get her mad, it's a short-lived massive explosion." She said while she returned the flamberge over her back and asked in the process of turning to Marthis, whose Dragon flapped its wings just trying to stay on the current. "It should be smooth sailing from here, how far is our next mission, Marthis?"

"Enno is not that far, our fortress is the first castle we see." Marthis replied, throttling up and down while Sky Dragon worked hard to keep up.

_Fall, fall, fall, fall…_ Was the chant calling inside the girls' heads as the Sky Dragon climbed the current.

"I see it…" Kaiba said, pointing ahead to a territory built by towers of stone, each only apart by one or two miles. He hinted descent to his dragon and the rest followed suit, quickly all of them landed and entered into the fortress's secure walls. There was no variation: the fortress of Enno was the exact same structure as Maryah-Denn. Kaiba dismounted his dragon and walked past Gema and Miranda to stare down Marthis. "I want this over with soon, what do you have for me?"

"Ou-our," Marthis stammered at the frightful news, "Our ground forces were overrun while we were in the skies in the fight of our own. I'm afraid we're all that's left of the Imperial Guard here in Enno and we're outnumbered 2 to 1!" Everyone stared at Marthis from the news and Kaiba rushed up the external spiral staircase to one of the two towers. Gema followed at his heels and Miranda drifted to one of the tower's four posts, sitting perfectly like a bird on a perch.

"Whoever ambushed us knew that we couldn't cover the skies and the ground. They must have made a full frontal assault on the ground unit after Miranda blasted the Seekers." Kaiba muttered to himself, "I would want to know just who is responsible." Mokuba climbed up with Marthis crawling up the stairs right behind him.

"Seto! The enemy forces are already on the move!" Mokuba alerted.

Marthis continued, "They already claimed Phostenn to the west of us, and Nyuagulla southwest of us." Kaiba winced in frustration and watched as the two invaded fortresses threw up flags belonging to the enemy. Mere sheets of burgundy, a color Kaiba was well too familiar with.

"Seto-sama? Is something wrong other than the fact we're at a disadvantage?" Gema asked after tugging the sash off of her mouth.

"If those flags belong to whom I think…" Kaiba murmured; Gema tilted her head in slight confusion.

"Um, Kaiba? Somebody's waving to us in that distant castle next to the river." Miranda pointed out, Marthis noted the stronghold immediately.

"That's Nua-Tua…and that's Pegasus! What is he doing on the side of the Resistance!" Marthis sounded outraged, Kaiba and Mokuba could only gasp in shock while Gema and Miranda looked at all three of them in confusion.

"You mean Maximillion Pegasus, CEO of Industrial Illusions who retired not too long ago?" Miranda questioned. A translucent image of a head appeared in front of Kaiba when he stepped back. He was a man just under his thirties with silvery hair draped to his shoulders and half of his face-hidden in his strands.

"The one and only Maximillion Pegasus!" He introduced with a grin only half-visible, "It's been a while, hasn't it Kaiba-boy?"

"Not long enough…" Kaiba cursed under-breath. Marthis insisted himself in front of the screen.

"Pegasus! What are you doing! You serve the empire as a royal family!" Marthis exclaimed.

"Tsk tsk tsk, still the emperor's pet, Marthis, you haven't changed at all. Except for those nasty nicks on your shoulders." Pegasus playfully insulted before becoming serious again, "But I no longer served the empire when Haysheen ascended the throne, he has done too much damage to remain. So I revolted, simple as that." He finished.

"Figures, you just want back at me for taking your company out of business." Kaiba smirked.

"My dear old rival, Industrial Illusions created the card game and all its cards to the game. Ever since I retired, I have yet to see any original cards come from Kaiba Corp. I'm actually quite surprised you're still marketing." Pegasus explained.

"Enough of the small talk, my mission here is clear that you have to be thrown out of Nua-Tua!" Kaiba claimed, "So unless you want to be beaten down to a pulp I suggest you run with your tail between your legs." Gema couldn't help but fanfare over Kaiba's announcement.

"Now that won't be simple. Just look about, two of my freelance forces are drawing closer to Enno, and we all know that Tiger Axes or Giant Stone Soldiers aren't the best monsters to content with here. Tata!" With that, the image vanished, and Miranda watched from over the ridge two teams of monsters.

"Is it my turn?" Miranda asked to the people below her stoop.

"Take out those two approaching us." Kaiba commanded and turned to Gema, "Gema, take care of Phostenn, we're going to need more than one stronghold for this one." Both girls nodded and took off to their orders.

Miranda leaped off her post of the tower, at least sixty feet from the ground, and flipped through the air once to a graceful landing in front of the gates. Her sights first landed on a trio of a green-armored female warrior with long, brown hair, carrying a sword and shield; behind her two wildcat-humans with large battleaxes; and a soldier being the marshal of the three monsters.

"Joy, Kanon the Swordsmistress and two Tiger Axes," Miranda mumbled, "This will be fun." She held out her cards straight and her monsters stood in formation before her. The approaching team stopped in their tracks and no words exchanged before the battle was ready to go. It was evident that the Amazoness Tiger standing in the lead of the other Amazoness had the initiative, and Miranda knew exactly what to do. "Kin, use Battle Roar!" She commanded and the Tiger unleashed an explosive roar, signaling the beginning of the attack.

First the Amazoness Paladin held her sword high with her battle cry and sped up to Kanon with her sword ready. Her allies being part of her clan gave her enough strength to make a clean swipe, but only scathed Kanon's shield, doing little damage. Amazoness Paladin leaped back into ranks and gave way for the more muscular warrior. Amazoness Sword Woman let out a deeper cry and charged headlong towards Kanon as well. Her attack completely shattered Kanon's shield and the metal disappeared; Kanon's only response was a shake of her head to get her mind set back to the fight.

Now it was the opponent's turn, Miranda knew that. She was told that monsters who use their special abilities, or were involved in the special ability, have to skip a turn of battle. Her Amazoness Tiger used its special ability of Battle Roar, and her other two Amazoness warriors have followed through on the Roar.

First was one of the Tiger Axes, its powerful legs launched it forward and struck down on the Amazoness Tiger. The axe sank into Kin's back and Kin growled in resistance. Miranda saw that the card rules applied in her as well, for the Amazoness Tiger can be the only Amazoness target, but the Amazoness Tiger's power increases with each Amazoness ally.

Kin ducked from the axe after a standstill moment and snapped its jaws below the blade; one good thrust nailed the hilt into the Tiger Axe's stomach and the beast-warrior limped back. He wrapped his arms around his stomach, slightly indisposed as the Marshal stared in shock.

"Tiger Axe! Kanon! Guard!" He commanded as the other two monsters held protective poses, giving turn back to Miranda after he repeated his call to keep guarding for all three of them.

_Crap, if they keep guarding, my monsters will tucker out._ Miranda thought desperate to end this quickly.

Gema led her team quickly to the fortress of Phostenn after Miranda dived off the tower's pinnacle. She, too, took a death-defying leap off the tower and over the guarding wall. It was a short sprint to the fortress to the right wall of Enno and another team instantly greeted her. A large man with fairly dark skin had his arms crossed over customary designed armor and skin dye trailing his bald head. Before him stood three creatures: Shadow Ghoul, a wicked green fiend with multiples of red boils all over its body down to five legs; to its left was a samurai wearing red armor, Zanki; and to its right was a large, orange worm with a gaping mouth filled with fangs and green eyes just around the teeth.

Gema's eyes widened while looking at the Shadow Ghoul and Dungeon Worm, hardly any attention to the Samurai that just made a sneak attack upon Lora. Her shriek called Gema's focus and her eyes narrowed with lethal aura. "Guardian Angel Joan, activate Halo's Gift!" She commanded. Joan raised her hands and light rings broke into showers of lights around all three of Gema's monsters. They all began to glow with a white aura but still their figures were visible. "When I use Guardian Angel Joan's special ability, all the damage my monsters inflict become health points for them. So go Lora, strike Zanki with Light Arrow!"

Lora posed with hand gestures like she was holding a bow and arrow ready to fire, instantly a bow and arrow made from light appeared in her hands. She released and the light spear blasted through Zanki; particles scattered from his body where the shot landed and became absorbed by Lora, restoring her injuries.

The marshal stood back, shocked. Gema continued her assault, "Kachua! Magic Ray! Finish off Zanki!" She commanded. The second of the Gemini Elf produced a violet sphere of magic and threw the blast to end the first monster of three.

After Gema's attacks, it was the marshal's turn, with only a Shadow Ghoul and Dungeon Worm left. "Shadow Ghoul, focus your attack! Attack the purple Gemini Elf with Split Maze!" He commanded, the grossly fiend lunged forward using all five of its legs and the claws struck down with great force, almost a severing hit. Gema growled lowly, but the Marshal wasn't finished. "Dungeon, attack with Worm Blaze, your target is the same Elf!" The large worm was next, and spat acidic mucus on Kachua, poisoning her and nearly sending her hit points to zero.

Gema winced. _Come on! I have to win this for Kaiba!_ She thought with determination, finally seeing that Lora was on the rebound again. "Lora, trigger it! Double Gemini Radiation!" Gema gave the command and the elves snapped into action. Both of them charged their spells and threw the attacks on the two remaining monsters. The Dungeon Worm and Shadow Ghoul collapsed, fading away when their HP hit zero. Kachua looked free from the toxins and the aura from Joan's special ability faded.

The ninja marshal breathed heavily with relief of victory. "Kaiba, Phostenn is claimed." She reported under breath and the four marched into the village. _These monsters are truly powerful…nothing like the card game where points matter the one-hit-kill…_

Kaiba watched from a tower as the radiation blast exploded in front of Phostenn. Mokuba was close by and Marthis admired Gema claiming the village. "The Resistance is truly weak Lord Kaiba."

"Which is why I'm going to handle this now," Kaiba retorted and was looking on a holographic menu that popped up on his mental command. "I'm installing anti-ground cannon that will be operational in one hour, just in case anymore wandering units want to play. When Miranda is done with the freelancer troops, call her back to Enno. I'm going to have a little chat with Pegasus."

"Seto?" Mokuba wondered.

"Mokuba, you'll stay here, I know you'll see that Enno runs smoothly. Marthis, give us another stronghold." Kaiba commanded and called his White Dragons, he leaped off the ledge and mounted on one of them before taking off, and bypassing the other controlled fortresses.

Mokuba looked at Marthis, "You heard Seto, move out!" Marthis grumbled as he took his leave. Mokuba glanced over the ledge again and saw units coming at Miranda, two on one. "Hope, Miranda can handle herself. Another pair of Tiger Axes and Kanon, and a Giant Stone Soldier with two Hitosu-me Giants…" He heard the Amazoness Tiger bellow a massive roar and the others went ballistic, especially the Swords Woman.

Miranda sagged with a heavy sigh of relief, "First trio…was fun… That…was not fun." She looked up to Kaiba going overhead.

"Miranda! You're called back to Enno!" Mokuba cried and Miranda's wing beats pounded the earth before she came back over the fortress walls.

It only took a half-hour's flight before he reached Nua-Tua, Pegasus' stronghold. Pegasus waited on the exterior level of the fortress with his arms folded, and a battalion of Toons monster behind him. Pegasus smirked, "Patience my little friends, the party will begin in just a moment."

Kaiba dismounted when his dragons landed on the other side of the level. His eyes instantly caught a small but almost rabid white dragon, thrashing about with excitement. The true Blue-Eyes White Dragons growled. "You still have that thing Pegasus? Don't you ever get annoyed by these things like normal people?"

"Annoyed?" Pegasus only sounded offended, "Kaiba-boy, my Toons bring smiles to faces by any means necessary, by laughter or by carving one right on your face." He had a smug look on his face briefly, the audience of cartoon creatures looked ready to pounce.

"Let's just get this over with Pegasus. Blue-Eyes, assemble!" Kaiba commanded and the dragons took their positions in front of him. "The sooner I deal with you, the sooner I can deal with Gozaburo and end this game. I have a tournament in progress and I will not let a dead man screw it up."

"Fine by me, I call to the field Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon," Pegasus named off his team, his first being the twisted white dragon himself, "Toon Dark Magician Girl," to his right a child levitated into place with blonde curls and clothing that looked like a Halloween costume, "and finally Manga Ryu-ran!" His third creature was another dragon, an obese reptile that still had its eggshell on the lower half of its body. The remaining Toon monsters supported as audience. "And it appears my Toon Dragon is ready for combat! Attack with White Lightning!" Pegasus made the opening move. The Toon Dragon inhaled deeply, inflating its body like a balloon, and launched a sphere of lightning just as big as the bloated beast.

Its target was Ibris to Kaiba's right, and the target was dead-on. However…

Kaiba smirked, "Pitiful, just as I figured." The Dragon still stood with small scratches on its left wing. "But Ibris has a bit more endurance than that. Now it's your turn. Kisara! Counter attack, White Lightning! Destroy…the Toon Dark Magician Girl!" At the command, the middle dragon sparked its own white lightning, looking more professional on the attack than the Toon Dragon, and a beam slammed directly on the Toon Dark Magician Girl. When the attack ended, the cartoon comically shook off the charcoal singe from the electricity burnout, she still had at least a quarter of her HP left. "Azrael! Finish off that excuse of a Duel Monster!" The remaining Dragon spat another beam of White Lightning and knocked out the first creature completely.

The Toon Dark Magician Girl slid to the ground, everything about her black except for her shocked eyes. Then as the vacuum of her body ended, she was reduced to a pile of ashes. Pegasus gasped, "How dare you Kaiba!"

The CEO shrugged, "As a cartoon stereotype, your Toon will reform in the next episode. But I'm going to cancel your show! Ibris, final attack! Aim for the Manga Ryu-ran!" Kaiba announced his latest attack at the obese Dragon stuck in his eggshell. The cartoon dragon rolled back on the bottom half of his shell and rose back up on the same momentum like an inflatable freestanding toy. It just giggled hideously.

Now it was Pegasus' turn, "My Manga Ryu-ran also has endurance. And since you've done your attacks, I'll do mine. Manga Ryu-ran, attack the Dragon on Kaiba's right!"

_Again?_ Kaiba thought to himself as a wave of fire impaled his damaged dragon. A critical hit and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon staggered to stand. _Darnit, my Blue-Eyes White Dragon has to survive another attack!_

"Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon, for the win! White Lightning!" Pegasus restarted the round of attack and the Toon Dragon inflated for another attack. It released and the sphere of lightning came down. "So much for the attempt of Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon." He taunted as the White Lightning exploded in Ibris' position.

Kaiba smirked. "I think that counts as a miss." The Marshals looked up and saw the White Dragon flying overhead of the blast, landing when it ended.

"I had no idea attacks could miss! None of my attacks had ever missed its target before!"

"First time for everything." Kaiba replied. "Kisara! Attack Manga Ryu-ran!" He commanded and the dragon followed, another beam of lightning began to crack the shell hardly called for defense.

Pegasus just watched, with the mask expression of despair but smiling with confidence inside. _This is just fine and dandy and all, hopefully this will humor Haysheen so I can have a word with Kaiba afterwards. He must know something about the virtualizations. Those pop-ups were from Kaiba Corp._

"Azrael! Finish off Manga Ryu-ran!" Kaiba announced his second attack. The dragon on his left hammered Manga Ryu-ran just as he raised the White Flag. The Dragon bloated with lard rolled back one more time, a pair of swirls replacing his eyes. "Two down."

Pegasus huffed. "Can't possibly defeat my Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon in one blow, and your own dragon is on the verge of knockout."

Kaiba shook his head, "Should have known better, I know why you focused your attacks on one Dragon in particular. Because I need all three of my Blue-Eyes for the fusion; on top of that, one of them must have the action to pull it off. Since two of my Dragons attacked, I'll leave the fusion command to the Dragon you tried to destroy." Kaiba boasted. "Ibris, use Polymerization!"

The final Dragon roared and called for the Fusion Summon, all three flew straight up and warped data to merge. Even the fortresses in the distance watched the phenomenon.

Gema watched from the center tower of Phostenn, her eyes glazed with fandom. "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon…I wish I had a camera." She smiled after pulling down her sash.

On Enno, Mokuba and Miranda watched from the other side of the region, yet the Dragons' ability could be seen from of afar. Mokuba cheered, "Yes! Pegasus is toast!"

"I definitely don't want to challenge the Blue-Eyes Ultimate, or the Blue-Eyes White for that matter." Miranda commented.

"This is what Pegasus gets for betraying the imperial court!" Marthis declared.

There was a silence between Mokuba and Miranda until she finally asked, "Mokuba, do you think Kaiba's order of execution for pleasure still stands? He was supposed to stay at his stronghold."

Marthis huffed proudly, "The forces began to retreat after Lord Kaiba flew to Nua-Tua, I saw no problem coming back to Enno."

"Was there merchant selling equipment?" Mokuba asked, Marthis didn't answer. Miranda refrained from making him crushed under his armor like a soda can.

What was once three dragons became one with three heads. The new Dragon was almost three times the size of the Blue-Eyes White Dragons and looking more intimidating by the new appearance. Kaiba had a smug look of victory with his Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon hovering over him.

"You've wasted your action Kaiba-boy!" Pegasus objected.

"On the contrary, I have one additional action." Kaiba corrected, "You see this would be considered a Special Summon, and a special summoned monster can attack on the spot, doesn't even matter if it's fusion or not. And this Dragon is powerful enough to knock off your parody like a milk bottle at a carnival game! Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon attack, Neutron Blast!" The three heads each charged a sphere of energy individually, but aimed so precise to impact the Toon Dragon all at once. Pegasus and the demented lookalike both had the faces of panic and the Neutron Blast exploded.

The impact was too much, and the entire fortress of Nua-Tua exploded. The supporting strongholds gasped as the opposing fortress's eruption. "Seto!" Mokuba and Gema cried. Miranda watched in support, Marthis just standing next to the other two Marshals, his expression indescribable under the mask.

Miranda saw a stray line of smoke blast from the fallen fortress, "Kaiba's alright, he escaped with the Blue-Eyes Ultimate!" The smoke peeled away from the Dragon's scales and Kaiba, riding on the center head.

"Mission complete, going back to Enno." Kaiba reported, mostly to himself, "There better be some point to all this." The Ultimate Dragon flew in quickly back to the castle and fell back to three dragons upon landing.

The light from the blast faded, showing the true time of dusk and everyone regrouped at Enno. Gema stretched her arms while walking towards the half-open gates with her team, the flamberge strapped to her back. "Well, that appeared successful."

"Outstanding, not only was the enemy defeated but you obliterated the fortress. WMD much?" Miranda said with a small joke. "Never doubted the Blue-Eyes White Dragons at all."

Kaiba took an examination among the group. "To the success today this is how we'll go about things for the later missions. Mokuba: while I'm away from the main stronghold, you take charge, feel free to support the base with what equipment we can buy.

"Got it Seto." Mokuba acknowledged.

"Marthis: once we arrive at our stronghold you'll give us the information of what we're up against. If there's more than two Marshals in each fortress, one will leave to reclaim a fortress we take. You better be right.

"Gema: you'll give us supporting strongholds. As needed you'll be sent to strongholds to challenge the enemy, the Gemini Elves and Guardian Angel Joan have high success rates of victory, but not nearly as high as the Blue-Eyes. As we gather more Marshals, they will follow you as you take the next stronghold."

Gema agreed, "Will do no problem."

Kaiba continued, "Miranda: you'll challenge the freelancer Marshals approaching the main stronghold. The Amazoness has tactical advantages in non-structural environments."

Miranda nodded, "Understood." Seeming satisfied, Kaiba then address the Marshals to set up camp in front of Enno's main gates.

Night fell quickly in the virtual world as Gema already created a bonfire; despite it being all computers, they could still feel the blaze's heat. All of their monsters were returned to their cards except for the Amazoness Tiger Kin, assigned to night watch. In absence were Miranda and Marthis, looking for rations in the fortress; leaving Kaiba, Mokuba and Gema outside around the fire.

A faint sound made Kin and Gema look towards the other direction, out into the plains. Avoiding the watchtowers of the other fortresses, Pegasus approached the light of the fire to revealing himself alone. "Greeting Kaiba." Pegasus said. Gema readied her flamberge that was strapped to her back and the Amazoness Tiger growled with warning.

"So what was with the cowardly run Pegasus?" Kaiba questioned, earning Gema rights to look confused but keep her stance.

"Ah, you saw through my false retreat. I expected nothing less of you." Pegasus complimented. "Actually I was hoping I could have a word with you, per haps a pact."

"Uninterested." Kaiba said sharply and was about to order Pegasus' dismissal by force.

"Please reconsider, I want you to lead my unit of the Resistance." Pegasus offered, "After your display of power, I knew there was something about you that was leadership material."

"We were enemies on the battlefield just this afternoon Pegasus, you expect me to take up on your offer after insulting me with that demented dragon?" Kaiba stated coldly.

"Well, you know what I say, 'Yesterday's enemy is tomorrow's friend.' I hope that you'd think over my offer so we can overthrow Haysheen and restore peace to Rondeval." Pegasus briefed; Kaiba still had the glare of ice. "Actually Kaiba, I was hoping if you knew something about this whole virtualizations ordeal."

Kaiba raised a brow, "So you're not a twisted program lookalike, but you're still twisted."

"True, I'm not like normal people. So, do you know anything about this?"

"As if I'll tell you willingly. Ge—"

"If you know, I'll be more than happy than give up my unit's monsters."

"I'm not behind this, this is all the idea of my half-wit stepfather who yanked this from his own son."

"Gozaburo has a son?" Pegasus wondered.

"_Had_. I'm through having this chat session. Gema, escort him out of our anti-ground cannon's range." Kaiba ordered. Gema readied her flamberge.

"Please, Kaiba. Allow me to ask for an answer." Pegasus tried to plea.

"Lord Kaiba? What is going on Lord Kai-BA!" Marthis' voice was heard from inside the fortress, and ceased after a crash of metal. Miranda walked out of the fortress, shaking off her right hand with a sac slung over her shoulder and cursing to herself. She had just caught sight of Pegasus and hid her wings behind her back.

"If it was all right, I just knocked out Marthis." She said.

Kaiba grumbled, "Not against my orders." His eyes fell back on Pegasus. "If it satisfies you, you can leave all but your wacko-toons at Phostenn for Imperial custody. All I know is that my stepfather is behind his and it's going to leave a major dent on Kaiba Corp.'s reputation if it isn't resolved and soon, I have a tournament to run and a couple of God Cards to claim."

"Then allow me to help. The more to offer, the faster it gets done." Pegasus suggested.

"And the more dead weight to drag, the more effort is wasted to achieve result." Kaiba retaliated.

"How about when all this is done I make a card in your name?"

"And insult me further? What can you possibly do to make up for that excuse of a Blue-Eyes White Dragon?" Kaiba asked with skepticism in his voice.

Pegasus dug around his pocket and pulled out what looked like a card on progress. "Kaibaman!"

Kaiba paused. Then said, "You don't know how long I've been waiting to do this…this is for that Toon Dragon!"

WHAM!

Kaiba didn't even look twice at the image imprinted on the card. His left fist had already flown into Pegasus' diaphragm. Miranda, Gema, and Mokuba stood dumbfounded, seeing the first blow without warning. Kaiba looked like he was going to go for another blow and Gema jammed her flamberge into the ground in front of Mokuba. "Going for the face, not going to be pretty," she mumbled.

CRACK!

Kaiba's opposite fist rocketed into Pegasus' left half of his head. Momentum forced Pegasus to turn, and his hair revealed the secret of his face. Miranda's jaw dropped; all the episodes of _CSI_ did not prepare her for what Pegasus had hidden. She thought she could gag. _Is that an empty eye-socket!_ Miranda's thoughts shrilled. Gema's skin colored matched her shirt for the moment as Pegasus sprawled on the ground, winded.

Kaiba brushed his hands off, "And that…is for not _asking_ me before promoting a card that is hardly my likeness with my name." Kaiba concluded, looking at the fallen card: practically a rip-off of _Power Rangers_. "We're reporting back to Sygh-Varths, now recall your teams and mount the Blue-Eyes… And where is Marthis?" Miranda turned around towards the fortress; Marthis had vanished from his place on the ground. Following her gaze, Kaiba took command again, "Nevermind, we'll leave without him. Mokuba, Gema, we move now."

"Yes, Seto!" Both of them chimed in high, admirable voices and followed the CEO.

Miranda took one final glance at Pegasus, who appeared to have some sort of adverting effect on his left shoulder. He was shaking to get up, apparently something else to say. "I don't think…I've seen a Marshal…half-a-Duel Monster." He wheezed.

"I'm guessing it's a side effect of these raw virtualizations." Miranda said lowly, trying not to let her officer know she was conversing with the enemy.

"I've seen another one…like you… His name is Devil Hunter…or at least that's what…he refers himself to." Pegasus described, "He has…outrageous abilities…for a corrupted character."

"A corrupted character?" Miranda repeated, trying to get the better end of understanding.

"I ran into him…and I've got a graze of what he can do…" As Pegasus looked up, she was thankful that his hair covered his face again. "I could only guess that he was one that was most flawed in the virtualization. Your dragon attribute is not part of the normal program that I'm aware of. You might run into him, but be careful when he warps the data."

"What?"

"Miranda!" Kaiba roared as his three dragons hovered above the fortress. Miranda took it as they-were-leaving and could only give Pegasus a wish of good luck before darting off with the others.

_Devil Hunter can warp data…is that what happened to Pegasus?_ Miranda through while tailing behind Kisara in formation back to Sygh-Varths.


	4. Devil Hunter

**Chapter 4 – Devil Hunter**

In his throne room, Haysheen was more red than gray. Anger boiled through his system after Marthis had given him the report in the most subjective way possible. "Traitors, all of them! I knew we couldn't trust the Dragon, but our Imperial Guard Captain double-crossed us first!" Haysheen bellowed.

"The Dragon was in part of it, she knocked me out cold while Kaiba talked to Pegasus!" Marthis claimed, "She was in it with Kaiba from the very start! She and that Ninja!" Haysheen was about to go further when a guard entered the lair. He bowed before Haysheen before speaking.

"Your majesty, the Imperial Guard Marshals have returned." He reported.

"The timing couldn't be better," Haysheen had a crooked grin. "Show them our new doormat!"

* * *

The White Dragons landed gracefully in front of the gates surrounding the largest fortress of Rondeval. The castle was much like the other Imperial strongholds except that it was twice the size and had a blue, huge semi-sphere set into the front wall of the building. It had a suspicious aura to it, the first thing Miranda noticed upon landing. "Haysheen wants to be robbed?" she asked sarcastically, already knowing that the orb facing them has something to do in the next few seconds.

Gema's head perked, catching on to a very weak vibrato. "This can't be part of our welcoming committee."

"Not the welcoming committee you've been expecting! Activate Gravity Bind now!" Marthis commanded from the main entrance, still damaged on the shoulders, fabric and mask and surrounded by guards. The party felt enraged, especially Kaiba.

"Gema! Miranda! Stop him!" Kaiba commanded, and both powered users lunged with flamberge and fire-breath ready.

"On the Imperial's grounds, remember?" Marthis taunted and the orb thundered. A wave of unknown properties blanketed the castle grounds and the land surrounding it. The guards merely tried to hold their ground. While thereafter, Kaiba's Blue-Eyes White Dragons were suppressed by the force, and the charge fell short. Miranda's unbalanced weight from the wings threw her to the ground and Gema's flamberge handle pinned her hands, unable to get free.

Kaiba was the only one standing. "Curse you Marthis…" he hissed, already trying to find a way to break loose of the trap card simulation. _Our monsters are virtually useless here! And there's no command protocol to override the system…not now at least._

Marthis chuckled in victory. "You're Dragons will remain out here under Gravity Bind; and yet, the Black Dragon needs to be addressed punishment. She certainly can't become an Imperial servant like the others."

_Not willingly._ Miranda muttered under the mounting force.

"Ah, I have a solution!" Marthis acclaimed and called a guard to fetch a clay pot.

Kaiba recognized it instantly. "A Dragon Capture Jar!" The identity made Miranda freak. Marthis took the jar into his gilded-armor hands and stepped forward, Gravity Bind hardly affecting him. He placed the Dragon Capture Jar before the immobile Miranda and waited only a short moment.

"MIRANDA!" Gema cried, watching in horror. Purple smoke began to seep from the pot's brim and linger towards Miranda. The smokescreen grew thicker by the second and then slurped back into the jar, leaving no trace of what was once the Marshal. A stream of vulgarities Gema thought she'd never used flew from her mouth. "Let her go! Let her go you two-timing virus! I swear I'm gonna go Zabuza on your hide when I get my flamberge off the ground!" There was the same protest murmuring from the jar itself; Miranda was only sealed inside, the purpose of the Jar in the game itself.

Marthis didn't seem threatened as he lifted the jar off the ground. "The Stone Soldier will bring her in." He directed and the golem stepped forward, each footfall called a tremor towards Gema. One arm hooked Gema around her shoulders and restrained her arms' mobility, and then with its spare hand picked up the flamberge like it was a stick. As Gema's feet left the ground, it completed the second Mashal's restraint.

Mokuba looked hopeless, still on Ibris' back and paralyzed by Gravity Bind's force. "Why did Haysheen double-cross us Seto?"

"It's you that double-crossed Emperor Haysheen!" Marthis argued, "And now unless you want to walk willingly, you will be forced to hear and endure your punishments." Kaiba wanted to argue, seriously. But he faced several problems.

"Blue-Eyes…return." Kaiba commanded and the Dragons returned to their cards, he tried to keep Mokuba from falling to the ground at terminal velocity from only five feet.

"Seto-sama! What are you doing?" Gema cried from under the Giant Stone Soldier's arm.

Marthis appeared content. "If you would follow me. Release the Gravity Bind!" He commanded and the orb ended its deafening vibration. Mokuba and Kaiba felt it easy to stand again but helpless of anything at the moment. The Dragon Capture Jar still had muffled protesting inside while in Marthis' hands as he led the Stone Soldier in first, the monster unnecessarily constricting Gema while she was swearing in silence. Pushed by the guards, Kaiba and Mokuba followed Marthis inside.

Kaiba and Mokuba stood before Haysheen with guards surrounding them. Gema still squirmed in the clutches of the stone soldier and Miranda crammed in the Dragon Capture Jar in Marthis' hand, the jar rumbled lightly as Miranda continued to fight a way out.

"Now then…today we pass judgment." Haysheen boasted from his throne.

Kaiba huffed and breathed with sarcasm, "I'm so shaken, what can you programs possibly do?"

"Silence!" Haysheen countered with the seemingly empty title of royalty. "Marthis, if you would read the charges against these treacherous dogs?"

"Who you calling a dog! That's Wheeler's nickname appointed by Seto-sama himself!" Gema shrilled, kicking at the stone soldier until her heels hurt.

"Of course my Lord." Marthis replied, in his other hand Marthis held a piece of parchment. "Lord Kaiba and his band of ex-Imperial Marshals have broken several rules, including Paragraph 3 subsection 4.168: sparing enemies subdued after invoking Imperial contact, Paragraph 3 subsection 5.135: _conversing_ with the enemy, and Paragraph 5 subsection 2.039: assault on Imperial personnel, four counts of that in fact! Which explains my injuries." It was true; his mask was still crippled in, his shoulder armor dented and damaged, and his cloaks torn to shreds.

"Well whoop-dee-doo. You got an owie. Who cares!" Kaiba mocked.

"Add disorderly conduct to those charges." Haysheen countered.

"You're the one not giving us conduct! We were not the ones that engaged that conversation with Pegasus!" Gema argued in. The verbal arguments bounced back and forth for only as long as Haysheen's patience could last.

"Enough!" Haysheen silenced the throne room. "I will now past judgment. Kaiba, Mokuba, Miranda, and Gema will be stripped of their ranks, imprisoned for the night, and executed at dawn." He said plainly, which didn't intimidate the punished mass as he has hoped. "Any last words?"

Kaiba was about to bark back, though a moment passed and his eyes hit Gema. Under the stone soldier's arm Gema's hands were flying with gestures. _She better be giving us something good._ "Nope, except I'd like to open your head and see how much brain matter you're missing." Gema saw the opening and seized it.

"Ninjutsu Art of Decoy!" Gema announced with the final hand gesture. Her body was engulfed in smokescreen in the stone soldier's arm, and in her place when the smoke cleared was one of the guards.

"Where is she!" Marthis proclaimed. "Guards, find her! Kill her if you must!"

"Then you don't have to look very far, I can say that much!" Gema claimed, crouching upside down on the ceiling and looking down upon the crowds below. "No one hurts Seto-sama or Mir-nee! Fuhma Shuriken!" Gema unleashed a flurry of throwing stars upon the guards and Marthis, but he hadn't dropped the jar. Gema's eyes narrowed, and she quickly dug for another throwing object. She felt something unlike her shuriken and nothing like a kunai. _A Swiss Army knife? Why would I need…_ Gema's thoughts trailed as she fingered one of the knife's gadgets open. "Yes! Seven Tools of the Bandit!" She flung the array of small utensils right at the Jar Marthis held.

The knife hit its mark, and the jar exploded into purple smoke. Marthis now held in his hand the black appendage connected to Miranda's extend spinal column. It led to the Dragon Half sitting on the floor with her arms crossed and eye twitching. "Catch a Dragon by the tail, if she's angry she will wail… on you!" Miranda pulled off her threat. Fluently she grasped both hands firmly on Marthis wrist, crushing his armor like foil, and her leg went into a high round kick right on Marthis' head.

Gema was still on the ceiling as if she was standing, no tangible supports on the soles of her feet. "Yes Miranda! Head shot!" She cheered and released her hold on the ceiling, going into a free fall over the Stone Soldier, her gestures flying again in her fingers. "Ninjutsu Art of Transformation!" She declared and was swallowed by white lightning, returning form as a large lion-like beast with wings and a scorpion tail.

"A Manticore of Darkness!" Mokuba identified.

"Ninjutsu Art of Transformation allows the ninja to transform into a Beast, Winged-Beast, or Insect…she made a good choice." Kaiba commented and took advantage of the distraction from the guards. He jerked a spear out of one and knocked him out instantly. "Stay close Mokuba."

The Manticore sent a massive claw down on top of the Stone Soldier, which shattered in an instant and freed Gema's weapon of choice. Gema transformed back to her blue-and-white and reclaimed her flamberge. "We can either stick around and knock Haysheen off his high horse…" Gema said.

Mokuba finished after seeing more guards fled into the room, "…or we can find an escape route out of here!" Kaiba braced himself for another onslaught with a damaged spear alone.

Miranda finished herself pummeling Marthis and saw the guards. "OK, we overstayed our welcome." She said and cracked her knuckles. _I'm only Dragon Half…but if I'm half Red-Eyes Black, I sure as Gema's ninja strength that I better be whole Red-Eyes. The room's big enough._ Miranda thought and began to concentrate herself to change form. She hoped it didn't take much effort for the sake of time, and it didn't. Her hands were replaced with black nails, as was the rest of her body. Her neck clicked with extension until it hung over the shoulders and the face went from its tough girl features to even tougher dragon.

"Oh yeah we're pwning now!" Gema cheered after back swinging her flamberge, taking half-dozen guards with her.

"Restrain that beast!" Haysheen ordered and the guard flew on the command, attacking the Red-Eyes Black Dragon in numbers. The Dragon responded with one mighty tail swing, knocking off the rest of the guards and glanced to Kaiba.

"Wok ed!" the phrase escaped from the Dragon's jaws. At first everyone stood dumbfounded. The Black Dragon then lowered its level and jerked its head, beckoning them to get on her shoulders.

"I think she said we're out of here." Gema roughly translated and jumped on first, following Mokuba and Kaiba and the Dragon rose onto its hindquarters. "Miranda, what did you say?"

"A juat wok ed!" Miranda repeated, barely an answer for her friend.

"Can't understand you, just get us out of here!" Gema called and Miranda followed. She felt a burning sensation in her throat and let loose an explosive impact of fire, knocking away a series of walls.

_Why do I even bother giving them warning? They can't understand a word I say in this form. I say one thing, think another. The Dragons must have a different language altogether here…_ Miranda thought and sprang forward through the makeshift tunnel. She blasted another set of walls to clear an opening into the outside. "Marthis mawxk kxawwoh Gravity Bind uwuad!" Miranda warned.

"Miranda, just shut it unless you're going to speak English!" Kaiba ordered.

"She said something about Gravity Bind…Marthis might use it again?" Gema asked to try and understand, getting a nod from the Dragon in return. Gema smirked, "Leave it to me, just get us up there." The Black Dragon breached the final wall and pounded her wings into the ground, all fours leaving the terrain and making a circle around Sygh-Varths castle.

Gema slipped out of her position on the dragon's shoulders and watched carefully, slipping into her hand a small throwing knife and a slip of paper. The orb on the castle was beginning to hum again. Gema readied herself, "Bad chance. Royal Decree!" Gema sent the kunai flying sharply towards the orb. A direct hit right on the orb itself, cracked it, and deactivated it. "Yes! I am so good!"

Mokuba cheered also, "Thanks for bailing us out guys!"

Kaiba was otherwise, "Even though we didn't need it, but if it saved me most of the trouble so…some gratitude. You too aren't deadweight after all."

"Uvkoh ucc?" Miranda questioned and darted off from Sygh-Varths' sight into the night. In flight she sunk into her thoughts, _This language sounds familiar, nothing like any of the worldly languages…this has to be Dino from _Star Fox Adventures_…_

Mokuba looked a bit confused, "How did you get Royal Decree? Do ninja even have that?"

"I swiped it off a desk from a room we passed while Miranda was making our escape." Gema answered with a wide smile and a victory gesture. She then turned to her metamorphic ally, "So, any idea where we're going?"

"Uj cedw uj kxoho uhod'k udo Imperial vehsoj, udonxoho." Miranda answered, still speaking beyond comprehension as she flew everyone to safety, gliding while keeping her eyes on the ground for anything good.

"At least we got out with our end of the money, though not our supplies." Mokuba commented, "Hopefully we'll find a trader in a stronghold."

"Mokuba, don't fool yourself in the reality of hallucinations, just because we're in the virtual world doesn't mean we have to play by their rules. Miranda and Gema didn't have to play the Marshal Law when they surprised Haysheen." Kaiba answered.

Gema looked to Kaiba, "Well, you're probably not accepting the reality because you're not the one flawed. It was the reality of now between Miranda and me than got us out. And I kinda like this reality…I mean I wouldn't want to be here forever but I'll like it for how it lasts."

"Jeidtj cabo oei'ho khoadw ke xop ij." Miranda commented under-breath and finally found a peaceful region of Rondeval. She began a soft descent towards a village surrounded by forests on either side. "Kxaj fcuso ceebj doikhuc." Miranda commented and landed at the gate. Again it was a village surrounded by a weak wall, and very few people inhabited it. Everyone dismounted and Miranda was freed to pop her joints back into place as a half-dragon. "Please tell me I can speak English again." She groaned when her claws turned back to hands.

"Yes, you can…what kind of dialect was that?" Gema wondered.

"I recognized a few simple words when I was speaking. 'Kxo' equaled 'the,' 'oei' equaled 'you,' I was speaking Dino, a language in a video game that completely disorients the alphabet. It's pretty clever when the video game is Sci-Fi/Fantasy involving space travel." Miranda explained, "I guess Dino and Dragon are the same dialect."

"Then if need be you can be our interpreter." Said Kaiba as he headed himself into the village with the other marshals following.

There was always the lingering threat of real-world contact would strike Gema and Miranda, and it got to one of them. Miranda zoned out; she stopped walking, and hearing voices and seeing flashes before her. Gema turned around, seeing Miranda just standing behind them with her mouth just slightly hanging open, "Miranda?" she asked, with no response in return.

Miranda's bottom jaw quivered, and then sunk to her knees, hearing most everything but it was broken like a low-reception radio signal. She could recognize instantly who found her body in front of her computer. She heard her sister's voice, apparently already on some sort of phone, "Dad! Dad it's me! …No Miranda did have the phone but she won't wake up! …She's on her desk and won't wake up!" Miranda could hear the sobbing on her end of the conversation, her fingers dug into the ground and shaking in magnitudes.

"Miranda! Miranda what's wrong! Snap out of it!" Gema was already in front of her, holding her shoulders while Miranda was in mental submission.

Mokuba also looked frantic, in contrast Kaiba stood by, "Miranda must already be feeling the effects of Gozaburo's stunt."

"You mean, Miranda's caught in between the virtualization and the real world?" Mokuba asked.

"Exactly. Her body must have been moved from the computer she was at. Which explains why the division hadn't caught on instantly. If she's using a desktop, which works best stationary, then she's moved and she'll be like this until her body has settled down again; whereas when someone virtualized using a laptop, which is meant for travel, that person isn't as hit as hard as one with a desktop. That's normal knowledge that a desktop can't roam." Kaiba briefly explained, which undoubtedly was ignored.

Gema seemed to catch some of it while trying to get her friend back. "Isn't there anyway to stabilize her here? She looks like she's in serious pain."

"It's more of a strain. Mokuba and I are in pods, which are stationary and connected to our senses. In your case you might not feel a lot but with a mind connected weakly to a system, it could pose a strain when moved." Kaiba said all he could without throwing them into a panic. _I can't say this poses a threat…if there is a threat. But my stepfather is one that takes carelessness quite professionally. While we're safe in the pods, the others aren't so lucky. This strain might have extreme backfires. If someone figures this to be Kaiba Corp technology…I have to get this done and fast. The last thing I need is lawsuits that aren't my responsibility._ Kaiba grumbled. "We're moving in now." Kaiba said and marched into the village with Mokuba behind him.

Gema looked back, "Seto-sama!" she called before turning back to Miranda, "Mir-nee? Miranda come on!" Gema shook her shoulders. In a gasp of air, Miranda's day terror ended and she was looking back at Gema's eyes, her own framed with tears. "Miranda, what happened?" Gema asked, slightly relieved that she was somewhat back.

Miranda's virtual heart pounded, her breaths deep and quick, "Gema…Gema…my sister found me…at the computer."

"Seto-sama figured that. Can you walk?" Gema asked. Getting a nod from Miranda, the ninja helped her to her feet and slowly followed Kaiba inside the village identified as Beyzon. They came to the nearest building, a small restaurant and inn with two stories, and slid inside. They managed an inn for the night, but the three of them pondered how the time around them could affect them, Miranda was already in a bed, lying on her side with the wings sliding off the side.

Gema sat at the foot of Miranda's bed while Kaiba and Mokuba had the other bed. Gema looked despaired, "That was too freaky. Miranda just completely zoned out. What's going to happen now?"

"Why are you asking me? I only know of the problem and at our current position we have no idea how to solve it." Kaiba snorted.

Mokuba was lying across the bed, half-tired of the night flight. "Maybe we should find Noah. He might know how to solve it. He did come up with the idea." Kaiba's brother suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea and all but first we need to know what happens after this point." Gema debated, "Marthis is still on our tail, we're probably on the Imperial most-wanted list."

"Probably is an understatement…" Miranda grumbled, still sore from the reality flash, "Haysheen looked more than ticked off…"

"Miranda, I know this isn't reality but you need to rest." Gema cautioned and paused for her own thought, "It's odd how we're adapting quickly to game time."

"High-speed progress will do that, change night to day in ten minutes." Said Kaiba, "You two might be thrown into this because of your flaws; you're more data than human at this state, able to transform into Red-Eyes Black Dragon and Manticore of Darkness. You could almost be considered NPCs if it wasn't for your knowledge and response timing."

"But Marthis reacted the same way and just as fast. Could he also be a real person behind the mask?" Mokuba wondered.

"In rare occasions, NPCs could be _like_ real players. Marthis was programmed to report to Haysheen and follow his role. Whether we did all that damage or not he still would have reported to Haysheen and we'd wind up where we are now. If there's one thing about Artificial Intelligence, it cannot be given the right to make choices; it lacks wisdom, common sense, and foresight of a future. A computer is only as smart as the person who creates it." Kaiba briefed to the falling-asleep Gema, "I see game time is getting to you. We'll take another room for the night and watch; you two are still useful." He said and the two walked out, leaving Gema and Miranda to a room themselves.

Gema tried to shake off the drowsiness, "Game time…geh. Miranda?" She asked, but the Dragon was already asleep. Finding it futile, the ninja unbuckled her flamberge and set aside her other small weaponry, turning in as well. She stared into the ceiling as final thoughts stirred in her head, _Miranda's probably going to have more of those flashes…will I? I'm in college, so until my roommate finds me or my attendance slips will someone notice…and my attendance is more likely to notice than my roommate._ Her eyes lit up in question, _Will there be a problem? Gozaburo succeeded in digitizing the world. A lot of us should be out cold…maybe I'd run into more people as the time passes. Whoa…what is the time exchange rate between the real and virtual worlds?_ Questions unanswered, it was lights out for Gema.

In the next room Mokuba and Kaiba had their own beds but no interest of sleep. Normally, Kaiba is deep in his own thoughts, shuffling through his cards until he came across one most unusual. It possessed a blue card face but it wasn't a Ritual monster. _If I'm right then Yugi is still in this world. I can snatch Slifer from him and defeat him in the semi-finals with both God Cards… Then there's Marik. I didn't see him file out of the blimp but surrounded by everything, he should be in the same situation as Miranda and Gema._

"Seto?" Mokuba snapped Kaiba out of his thoughts, "What's going to happen to Miranda if that mind strain keeps up."

"As long as she isn't moved from a spot in the real world, she'll be fine." Kaiba answered, "There are some qualities that I find valuable of both her and Gema and I'd rather not lose those if it means going to a disadvantage." He put away his deck back into his idle Duel Disk, "Nonetheless we need to find a way out of the virtual world and undo what Gozaburo did. He went too far without taking precautions, it's like him." Kaiba scowled and laid himself across the bed, "As for now we'll have to wait for game time to reawake Gema and Miranda…"

"And hope Marthis doesn't hit us before then." Mokuba added. After long moments of silence, Mokuba thought the advantage and took a bed for the game's night. However Kaiba still refused to submit to anything.

* * *

After what almost felt like ten minutes to Kaiba, the color out of the window changed from violet to light blue. On his pillow, Mokuba stared at the pane, "Aw come on, I haven't had sleep yet."

"Don't fall for game time Mokuba, we'll sleep when we need it, hopefully it's while they can be on guard." Kaiba grumbled and a knocked rapped the door.

"Seto-sama?" Gema's voice murmured from the other side, "Miranda and I are going to go for breakfast downstairs. You coming with?"

"Mokuba and I will buy supplies, go ahead and feed yourselves." Kaiba answered and the footsteps on the floorboards faded. Kaiba thought. _However, we'll need to take every opportunity. If their abilities proved as useful as what they did in Sygh-Varths then we'll have to allow the virtual world to take its course on them. They're more game data than human._

Downstairs, the girls approached the counter to a large man, overweight if anything, cleaning a glass with a towel. Miranda looked over her shoulder, the breakfast crowd was staring at the two of them. "I hope the food doesn't stare." She mumbled.

"Don't order a Hungry Hamburger and you'll save more than a few turned heads." Gema whispered back and dug around her pocket for loose change, specifically the gold they were able to keep in the escape. She slid two gold coins under her fingers on the counter, "Will this do for a couple of eggs?"

"And a rare steak?" Miranda added. Without answer, the bar tender took the coins; he first handed Gema two eggs, unbroken, and then Miranda was given a slab of raw meat. Miranda grumbled before taking her plate, "I didn't want to hear the cow moo." Gema followed with the eggs in her fingers; at least they had plates, were the thankful thought between them, as they took an empty table.

"I thought this would be easy for a hot iron over flame." Gema groaned as she busted the shells on the plate, "I can't eat my eggs raw."

Miranda steadied the plate on her hand, "Well, exhaust our assets. Maybe you have more ninja tactics than transformation and decoy. I've learned that in human form my fire doesn't come from the mouth." Her hand went into flames, warming the plate and cooking the meat.

"Easy for you to say, you're a Dragon."

"Well maybe you're not exactly Zabuza with the large flamberge, maybe you're Kakashi." Miranda suggested and the gears in Gema's head worked. She opened her right hand with fingers curled slightly, gripping the wrist with her left hand, and concentrated deeply.

Miranda turned over the steak on her plate when sparks were popping in Gema's hand. Gema held the sparking hand over her eggs and the heat made the eggs fry right on the plate. "Thanks Mir-nee." Gema smiled. Miranda shrugged, still cooking.

Soon Kaiba and Mokuba made their way down and joined the girls at the table. Gema perked up after finishing the chore of breakfast, "Seto-sama, what are we going to do next?"

"Marthis hasn't made any move over 'night' so the anxiety would come to character." Kaiba commented and sighed, "You'll join us to gather supplies, as soon as we're done, then we leave for the next stronghold until we can get our numbers to subdue Haysheen."

"We're trying to draw out Gozaburo? Shouldn't we find more character faults and make an army out of it?" Miranda asked, wondering about what Pegasus told her before, "Pegasus mentioned running into one of them, someone called Devil Hunter."

"Explain BlakDragon." Kaiba said coldly.

"From what Pegasus told me, this Devil Hunter can corrupt active data." Miranda told only what she knew.

Gema looked up, "If the Devil Hunter could do that, think we'd see some sort of trail somewhere."

"Only a bit of Pegasus was distorted."

Kaiba chuckled, "The Toons probably annoyed Devil Hunter. While I fought Pegasus I noticed that some of his Toons looked misshapen."

"So we should try to find Devil Hunter, while looking for others like us in the process. But how do we determine power?" Mokuba chimed.

"Miranda and Gema handled the job exceptionally well at Sygh-Varths so they're good to keep. I'm sure there are other worth mentions out there." Kaiba answered, though said so casually that Miranda gnawed on the semi-cooked slab of meat to quell the small moment of temper.

Gema was otherwise, "A pleasure to help Seto-sama!" she squealed. Then her smile fade and eyes suddenly lost focus of her idol. The others at the table also fell silent, even Miranda nearly swallowed a bite whole to keep from distraction.

"Gema?" Mokuba asked quietly as Gema's eyes slowly scanned the area. Finally she flung a pair of shuriken out the window. In reaction there was a shriek, like a bat in pain. Most of the other customers had their eyes glued on the four of them as Gema walked out to check what she shot at.

Through the window she picked off the shuriken and held in her hand a large fleshy ball with wings, claws, and a tail whipping in frustration to escape. She came back in, still clutching the strange animal. "We've been followed by a scout." She stopped the thing onto the table. It nearly got away until Miranda grabbed the tail of it and looked at its face, just a solitary eye that might have composed the entire body of it.

Kaiba hardly looked at it, "A Meda Bat…and it has the Imperial insignia on its back."

"Marthis led us to believe that we escaped?" Gema cursed and raised her sword. "He'll meet the same fate as his Meda Bat!" She guillotined the bat and table, just missing Miranda's hand. Both halves of the monster fell after the table slid inward, the monster shattered afterwards.

"Then we better floor it, we'll find the next town for supplies." Miranda suggested, quickly tearing into the last of her steak.

"We. Don't. Run. I'm not going belly-up for Marthis and that sack of bones Haysheen and neither are you." Kaiba ordered back and directed everyone outside.

Chaos was let loose as Fiend monsters ran rampant in Beyzon, attacking and terrorizing any target. The only Fiends that weren't attacking the village were the Dragon Seekers gliding high above like scouts.

"Marthis is pathetic, he's only relying on a trait of the team that can easily be altered." Kaiba mumbled, his eyes going on Miranda. "Metalmorph Execute." He stated and Miranda felt a wave of aura fly through her.

"Metalmorph, how's that going to help?" Gema wondered.

"With the right monster, Metalmorph can change the equipped to a Machine-class, that'll protect Miranda from the heavy damage inflicted by weakness of the Dragon Seekers." Kaiba briefed as Miranda's image shifted. "You and Miranda have immediate access to certain cards based on your attributes, however it takes someone else to activate Miranda's access."

"So…bright side on your part…" Miranda grunted as armor began to plate itself. The head of a Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon equipped itself like a hand cannon to her right arm. "If I wanted to double-cross…I'd lose my advantages."

"Something the Big 5 didn't learn. Although you're only a Dragon Half, that side requires a host to tame it, and who better than me?" Kaiba smirked and the transformation was complete when a red targeting lens covered Miranda's eyes. "The Dragon Seekers are all yours! We're not playing my Marshal Law this time!" On command, the launch systems in Miranda's new wings ignited and exploded to lift Miranda off the ground.

"As for us Seto-sama?" Gema ask with her flamberge ready.

"We find Marthis, and after I'm done you can carve him like a turkey dinner."

"Sounds fair to me!" Gema accepted and headed off a random direction with the Kaiba's following. "If there's anything we know about Marthis, he'll want us to find him out in the open, and then he hardly has a plan after that! That was his big mistake back at Sygh-Varths." She commented, her blade cleanly slicing through one monster after another. "Quick question, how long will Metalmorph keep up?"

"Until I deny further access to it." Kaiba answered.

In the sprint Mokuba turned around and paled, "Seto!" he cried, looking at several flying objects coming towards them. Blurred, but it was easy to tell they were skulls on blades.

"Dokuroyaibas! Marthis is going all out!" Kaiba shouted in frustration and yanked a card from his deck. "Kisara!" He declared his summons and a tail whipped knocked aside the boomerangs.

The summoning of a dragon caught the Seekers attention and immediately lost interest in Miranda's persistence. She too saw the summoning, "Jxak!" she flipped and sped past the fleet of mercenary fiends. Once she was in between Kisara and the remaining six Dragon Seekers, she engaged the hand cannon. Her armor's energy compiled itself all into the weapon for a single blast. "Knocking six birds with one stone. _Flash Flare Blast!_" She proclaimed and a widespread laser escaped from the jaws. All the Seekers were caught in it and pixel by pixel they disintegrated.

Gema looked up slightly dumbfounded, "That's two seismic obliteration on her end…" she mumbled and struck down a Giant Orc. "Something tells me they're not playing by Marshal Law either."

Miranda hovered next to her with the black iron gleaming, "Then they must really want our heads."

"You know, I would not be the least bit surprised if an Imperials was one of the handful of idiots online."

"I'd be screaming for deletion if we run into him, assuming you and I are thinking of the same person."

"Miranda, you're too valuable as a friend to go to the recycle bin, but he's not worth wasting an anti-virus on either." Gema commented as the two fired off at the monsters one-by-one on their end. Kaiba had summoned all three of his Dragons to fight the numbers but the numbers began to slip through.

_Seto needs help, Miranda and Gema's end is full already._ Mokuba thought and pulled out his cards of monsters. "Trojan Horse!" he declared; the fabled Greek trap created a gap between them and the ground handicapped fiends.

"Mokuba?" Kaiba looked slightly confused at his younger brother.

"Fighting's not working, so we gotta stall and find Marthis." Mokuba cleared his reasoning.

Kaiba took a moment of thought, "Our best bet. Gema, Miranda clear us a path!" he commanded, in unison the girls nodded and called for their stronger attacks.

Miranda held out her cannon again and concentrated a blast. At the same time Gema withdrew her flamberge and held the same pose at breakfast. They were both successful to gather energy fluently and proceeded.

"Flash Flare Blast!" Miranda cried and annihilated the first wave.

"White Lightning Blade!" Gema cried, charging in and any monster in the radius of her attack was destroyed. Together they had blown up the fiends invading their area and proceeded with Mokuba's blockade successful. "Are we sure Marthis is this way?"

"If games go as I've played the, any direction we run we'll run into him." Miranda answered, cocking the cannon for another shot. "Zoa, heads up!" The group was coming in close to Marthis who had a more powerful trio of monsters in front of him. Aside from Zoa, one of the fiends was hideously misshapen from the waist down, it had a staff for a weapon and assorted masks were scattered and stapled over its body. On Zoa's left hand side was a skeletal monster with muscle tissue under the bones and claws sparking with electricity.

"Zoa, Summoned Skull, and Masked Beast! I think our hands are gonna be full!" Gema cried, trying to match her lightning with the Skull's.

"My Meda Bat has tailed you here, and it's time the lot of you were executed, maybe even claim this area in the process!" Marthis boasted, holding another Dragon Capture Jar. "May have escaped the Seekers, but the jar will get you and those Blue-Eyes White Dragons!"

"Miranda…all yours." Kaiba stated.

"My pleasure!" The Black Metal Dragon's systems revved to life once more and bolted straight for the team Marthis had guarding him. Her targeting lens gleamed and fifth object entered in her range. "What! Five!"

"Leave fiends to the real demons!" A voice bellowed, followed by a whirling swish entered Miranda's spectrum of hearing coming from behind her. She slammed to the left and avoided a large sword thrown like a projectile.

"Gema!" Miranda cried.

"Not mine!" She called back.

_Then who?_ Miranda's moment of thought was over as the sword spun through the Summoned Skull, dividing the fiend in two before shattering. The sword flew back like a boomerang, and them bounced back into the fight. This time it decapitated Zoa, and the second fiend fell in one swoop.

This time Gema tracked the sword's return. She saw it was as thick as her own sword but had smoother edges. The weapon was returned at the hand of a flying individual. From the sun it was pretty hard to see the newcomer, but it became easier when he landed onto the ground. Miranda had the best view: black hair crowned him over a pair of glasses emphasized his blue eyes. The attire seemed a bit off from what he was capable of by example, a black tuxedo. His inhuman features was a pair of horns faded black from his forehead, black leathery wings from his own back and a broadsword that anyone could mistake for Cloud's from _Final Fantasy VII_. Altogether, he at least appeared to be just two years shy of Gema.

"Miranda! Friend of yours?" Gema asked from afar. Miranda ignored Gema, in a deep gaze she saw slight distortion on the newcomer, much like Pegasus.

He looked to his arm and saw defrag of his body. Given the opportunity he'd do something about it; however, at the moment he was staring down Zoa and Marthis.

Marthis huffed, "Another bilge rat meant to take the empire head on alone? I have heads of those that tried that stupid stunt."

"I imagine they were overconfident or stupid, but I'm neither. I know I can send you out of this city single-handed, one way or another." He stated and turned to Miranda. "This is the part where I'm need to be given at least 50 feet of personal space." She registered and darted her way back to Gema and the Kaiba's.

"Miranda?" Gema tried to get her attention. Again failure because Miranda's eyes were still locked on him.

Marthis laughed, "You against the entire army I've brought here?"

"If you want to defeat an army, kill the Marshal." He shrugged.

Marthis fumed, "Zoa attack! Claws Shredder!" he commanded and the last standing fiend charged.

Response wasn't so fast at first, the opponent had spiked the broadsword into the ground with no intent to use it this time around and prepared himself to take the fiend head-on.

Kaiba looked on, examining Zoa's target. _Another flawed user, what can this one do?_ He thought as the opponent finally made a charge of his own and held his ground. He caught Zoa's throat in his left hand as both claws flew in between him.

"That's weak." He grumbled and curled his spare hand into a fist. "_Shatterfist!_" he declared and the fist glowed before hammering Zoa in the stomach. The velocity was so powerful that it created a vacuum inside Zoa for only a moment; everyone saw the monster crack in pattern all over its body before exploding into a black cloud which quickly evaporated.

The other flawed looked dumbfounded. Gema had to uncover from her sash to let her jaw drop. "Miranda, I think we've been beaten in strengths."

"I think so too." Miranda agreed.

Mokuba looked half-terrified. "He just took that thing out in one swing. It takes Gema to shift to another monster before she can cause the same damage."

After Zoa was reduced to nothing, Marthis looked paralyzed. Zoa's slayer turned on a heel and retrieved is broadsword with his left hand. They all saw his end of damage, his right hand was so obscured it was rendered useless for the moment, and the distortion of his own body worsened.

Gema commented, "It's almost like Hiei and his dark dragon summons…"

He looked upon Marthis after his broadsword was firmly in his hand. Almost predictable, Marthis called the retreat and the fiends bounced away from Beyzon. The offender took flight with the sword ready. "_Stinger!_" he proclaimed right before his speed picked up and his sword went through all the layers of Marthis. There was no response for the slain as Marthis shattered just like his monsters.

It was from there that the chaos ended. Beyzon only had a few areas of damages, but the fiends were gone from the village.

"Looks like we're done here." Kaiba mumbled, "Close Metalmorph." Just as before, Kaiba's command altered Miranda and returned to her default appearance.

"So, what's the verdict on this one?" Gema asked, almost sounded like Kaiba when he admitted initiation of the girls. As they discussed things, Miranda hovered over to the savior who was in a deeper concentration. He stared deeply into his right hand and focused himself intensely. She watched as his hand pieced itself together in moments.

"You have the ability of recovery?" Miranda asked curiously.

He returned with a deadly glare, and came so sudden it made Miranda a wing beat back from him. He studied the Dragon Half briefly, making out for himself if she was part of the program or not. After a moment, he sought only fair to answer the question "'De-corruption' is the better term of things, if that term was real." He corrected, "Recovery is to restore to form of origin, a talent of which I do not possess."

Miranda was timid to answer to him. "I…guess that makes sense." Her thoughts came together. "Um, thank you for helping us against Marthis."

"As if we needed it." Kaiba spat, approaching with Gema and Mokuba. "We could have handled Marthis."

"That so?" He asked and stepped to where the Masked Beast stood before slain. He bent down and picked up a relic, a stone carved with the kanji of Lightning. "The Masked Beast is capable of Level 5 Magic. This one held a Raigeki spell." He stated, earning most of the group a gasp in surprise. "It would have taken more than a file command of Anti-Rageki or Magic Jammer to cancel it; you'd need the actual counter-spell. If it wasn't for me bringing down that one and the Summoned Skull which had Raimei, those in combat would have been for a world of hurt and left you open to be taken prisoner."

After his explanation, both men glared each other, waiting for one of them to back down. The silent conflict left out the girls and Mokuba while the village around them rebuilt. In moments, the standstill ended and Marthis' murderer glanced back on Miranda. Once more she was studied by appearance, "Attributes of the Red-Eyes Black Dragon…you probably would have taken a heavy hit compared to the white ninja there."

Miranda couldn't help but tilt her head in some confusion. "Because I'm more Duel Monster, I'd take more damage than Gema?" He nodded.

"Raigeki affects everything but causes the heaviest damage on Duel Monsters."

"And what would you know about _my_ computers?" Kaiba demanded.

"I thought you might see that now, when everything is connected and mixed, there is no territory of cyberspace." He said simply, his hand trembling with rising temperament.

Gema readied herself for another battle. "I don't think he's friend."

His hand stopped shaking and his sword was at ease. "I did not come for a fight with you. You wouldn't be much of a fight if you were to face me. Now I'm almost regretting it…almost." He looked upon Miranda again, virtually changing the subject completely. "I figured you needed the help, you're not yet familiar with your character's full potential, despite the need of another source to access. I wish you luck to further progress."

Miranda gulped dryly, unusually shy but considering the circumstances. "Could I…have your alias?"

"His alias? Why not his name?" Mokuba asked.

"Don't know who's who in the world. Miranda and I trust each other because we know each other in the real world." Gema answered, knowing very well of Internet etiquette. Apparently he had the same taste of things.

"My alias is Devil Hunter." He introduced to Miranda mostly. "And I guess I'll just know you as Black Dragon and stick with that, the less known the better." Miranda was still hanging on to the mention of his name.

"You're the one Pegasus mentioned?" Miranda pressed on the questions.

"The less known the better." Devil Hunter repeated, his glare refocused and successfully silence Miranda for a minute.

Kaiba remained focused on Devil Hunter. _Gozaburo you've outdone yourself this time. You've got another idiot believing in this world more than Gema and Miranda._ "You have potential, but I'll have my eye on you; this virtual world isn't big enough for two Marthis."

"Then aren't you glad I took him out?" Devil Hunter intervened, making a joke of the scenario.

Kaiba grumbled before resuming, "Your choice to join us if you can carry your weight."

Devil Hunter took a moment of thought. His first impression was disposition at Kaiba, mainly of the insults and skepticism; disposition was also aimed at Mokuba and Gema, guilty by association. But he could admire Miranda's timid but brave approach, he saw she was aware of his abilities. He gave his answer, "If the empire's the enemy here, then I'll come for that. But we're going to need more than Marshal Law, ninjutsu and explosive tempers. And I believe I've got us a starting point."

Kaiba's eyes narrowed, obviously unhappy with an indefinite loyalty. "As long as it'll be the fastest route out of this virtual rat hole." He breathed deeply to hide the rock in his throat of his next phrase, "Lead the way."


End file.
